Winemaker's Notes:

What's so funny about peace, love and whole cluster fermentations? Whether due to an evolution of our vinification techniques, which favor longer skin contact and the inclusion of more whole clusters, or a turn of the thermostat to the left, we seem to have rendered a very serious and, perish the thought, authentic syrah. One strongly senses that the Northern Rhône is not terroir incognito to this wine. The expanded employment of whole cluster fermentations has endowed the wine with more and richer tannins, smoky meatiness and a clear ping! of wintergreen. Additionally, with the 2003 vintage we drop the fairly generic "California" tag now that we are operating under the aegis of the Central Coast appellation with the exclusion of a particular lot of grapes from the rough and tumble [and bloody scorching] inland side of the Altamont Pass. While the inclusion of whole clusters has served to augment the size and structure of the wine, the use of only coastal, cooler climate fruit preserves the nuance and complexity which allows one to daydream without guilt of sexy, well proportioned, and sophisticated côtes blondes et brunettes.

About Bonny Doon Vineyard:

Bonny Doon Vineyard is situated in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the tiny hamlet of Bonny Doon. The winery was founded in 1983 by the Grahm family. Randall Grahm, Winemaker and President-for-Life of Bonny Doon Vineyard, was born in Los Angeles in 1953 and attended Uncle Charlie's Summer Camp, excuse me, the prestigious University of California at Santa Cruz, where he was a permanent Liberal Arts major. A complete and insufferable wine fanatic, he returned to the University of California at Davis to complete a degree in viticulture in 1979. Grahm is known as the "Rhone Ranger" for his pioneering work in the popularization of Rhone and Provencal varieties in California. Bonny Doon produces an array of such favorites as: Vin Gris de Cigare (thinking person's pink wine), Le Sophiste (Roussanne/Marsanne melange), Clos de Gilroy (young, fruity Grenache), Le Cigare Volant (Cryptoneuf-du-Pape), Garnacha (the strong Pink Wine), and a dramatically intense Muscat "Vin de Glaciere" (wine of the icebox).